Broadway Revival of Merchant of Venice to Receive Equity’s Diversity on Broadway Award

The 2010 Broadway revival of The Merchant of Venice, produced by The Public Theater, Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel, is this year’s recipient of Actors’ Equity Association’s Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity on Broadway Award. Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis will accept the award at a reception at the Equity headquarters in New York City on Tuesday, June 7.

The award honors and encourages those who actively promote the goals of diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity for those who work in the theater. In conjunction with the ceremony, Equity will receive a Mayoral Proclamation, presented by Commissioner Katherine Oliver, designating June 7 as Diversity on Broadway Day.

The Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice starred Al Pacino, Lily Rabe, David Harbour, Jesse L. Martin, Byron Jennings, Heather Lind, David Aaron Baker, Gerry Bamman, Matthew Rauch, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Isaiah Johnson, Christopher Fitzgerald, Peter Francis James, Richard Topol, Thomas Michael Hammond, Charles Kimbrough and Seth Numrich. The cast also featured Happy Anderson, George Bartenieff, Liza J. Bennett, Glenn Fleshler, Luke Forbes, Herb Foster, Bryce Gill, Jade Hawk, Bethany Heinrich, Curt Hostetter, Tia James, Kelsey Kurz, Brian Keith Macdonald, Dorien Makhloghi, Kim Martin-Cotten, Brian Sgambati and Baylen Thomas.

Directed by Daniel Sullivan, it featured scenic design by Mark Wendland; costume design by Jess Goldstein; lighting design by Kenneth Posner; sound design by Acme Sound Partners; and original music by Dan Moses Schreier.